


Lunch

by Blackghost7



Category: NCIS
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-13 23:20:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3400016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackghost7/pseuds/Blackghost7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lunch with Senior leads Tony inevitably to the basement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lunch

Gibbs was surprised but pleased when he heard the familiar footfalls of Tony coming into his house, walking over to the fridge to grab a drink and then coming down the basements stairs. Surprised because it was a Saturday night and he would have thought Tony would be out somewhere, and because nothing had happened as far as Gibbs knew that would bring Tony to his basement, but pleased because he simply enjoyed Tony’s company and never minded – in fact, he always looked forward to – having Tony in his basement babbling away at him while he worked. Glancing up at Tony to assess his mood, Gibbs was even more pleased to see Tony’s easy demeanor and relaxed attitude. Nothing bothering him then. Good.  
   
“Hey, Gibbs.”  
   
Tony greeted him casually as he drew up a sawhorse and sat next to Gibbs, his eyes as always glued to Gibbs’ hands as they carefully worked the wood laid out on the workbench. Tony’s natural curiosity caused him to study everything he saw to discover the meaning or the purpose of whatever it was his eyes fixed on, and Gibbs smiled a little. Tony’s gaze on him, any part of him, always warmed Gibbs, made him feel like the younger man saw him, really saw him, and liked what he was seeing. But that was a thought for another time, like when he was alone. These thoughts should be kept at bay when Tony was around, because that was the drawback when someone really saw you – they could tell things about you that maybe you didn’t want them to know. And Gibbs knew that Tony was perceptive enough to catch Gibbs’ thoughts about Tony if he let them linger in his mind too much while Tony was around.  
   
Having studied Gibbs’ movements for long moments while sipping at his beer, curiosity apparently satisfied for now with the information he’d gathered from those movements, Tony spoke. Gibbs smiled. This was how it always went, except when something was bothering Tony, then it took long hours of coaxing silence before Gibbs got Tony to talk.  
   
“Had lunch with Senior today.”  
   
Gibbs’ hands stilled for a fraction of a second. The relationship between Tony and Senior was improving, but Gibbs still felt apprehensive every time Senior showed up, not liking that the man could unsettle Tony easily even still.  
   
“He’s good. Marriage to Linda has really settled him. He looks good and he seems happy.”  
   
“Good for him.”  
   
Tony smiled. He knew Gibbs still had his reservations about Senior, and he appreciated that, it felt like Gibbs was watching out for him, and that always made Tony feel good.  
   
“Yeah. We had a good time, actually. Talked a lot. Made me think about some things.”  
   
“Oh?”  
   
“Senior was extolling the virtues of marriage. I think he wants me to settle down with someone.”  
   
Gibbs raised his head to glance at Tony, seeing the smirk he’d heard in Tony’s voice clearly on his face.  
   
“Yeah? Did he have anyone in mind for you?”  
   
Tony laughed.  
   
“No, nothing like that. He was just telling me how great it is to be married, do little things for each other to make each other happy. To have someone who takes care of you, and you take care of them in return. Have someone to come home to, someone to hold during the night.”  
   
“Those were the parts I always liked about being married.”  
   
Tony smiled again, and thought back to lunch.  
   
*****  
   
“I’m telling you, Junior… Tony, being with Linda is great. It’s the little things. Like the other day, I wasn’t feeling well – nothing to worry about, just a little bug – and with one look she knew, even though I was trying to hide it from her, and she comes back with delicious chicken soup.”  
   
Tony’s mind flashed back over the years. Gibbs at his side when he had the plague, Gibbs plonking down a bowl of chicken noodle soup on Tony’s desk when Tony got soaked with rain, Gibbs giving him his fresh piping hot coffee when he saw Tony shiver during a long night in the freezing car while on a stake-out.  
   
“And it works the other way around as well. The appreciative smile Linda gives me when I bring her coffee or a bite to eat without her telling me she wants anything, just warms my heart.”  
   
Tony knew exactly when to have coffee ready for Gibbs when he came down from a difficult morning in MTAC, thought of bringing lunch back for Gibbs without having to ask him what he wanted, saw the little quirk of Gibbs’ lips when Tony showed up in the basement with pizza or Chinese food.  
   
“She knows exactly when I’m dragging my feet about something, and if she can, she’ll take care of it for me. Like she’ll call the doctor to schedule an appointment for me, or arrange for someone to come round to fix the television when the cable goes out.”  
   
Tony remembered fondly the Saturday morning Gibbs had shown up at his apartment, toolbox in hand, after Tony had mentioned the previous afternoon that something was leaking in his bathroom and he hadn’t had the chance to call a plumber because they were running around on a case. Gibbs had not only fixed the leak, he’d gone round Tony’s entire apartment, tightening screws on handles, replacing broken light bulbs, checking the rubber rings in his faucets. Tony had followed him around all day, handing him tools, and thanked him with a home cooked meal.  
   
“Sometimes Linda will see something in a shop that she knows I’ll like, and she’ll just make a present of it for no reason at all.”  
   
Tony thinks of the old copper hinges he came across while rummaging at a yard sale, buying them for Gibbs, and the pleased quirk of lips the older man gave him when Tony handed them to him one evening in the basement. He recalls the little boat in a bottle he found that reminded him so much of the boats Gibbs built, and Gibbs putting it on one of the shelves in his living room carefully, making a space for it with a smile. He remembers the book of movie trivia he found in his go-bag one evening, a note in Gibbs’ handwriting attached “Saw this. For you”.  
   
“You can’t imagine how pleasurable it is to come home in the evening to the smell of dinner already cooking, and being handed a glass of wine and told to just sit there and relax until dinner is ready.”  
   
Tony can practically smell the steaks Gibbs grills him in the fireplace, potatoes in the oven, beer or bourbon handed to him while he leans back on the couch, eyes half-lidded as he watches Gibbs cook their meal. He smiles at the memory of the many times he arrived at Gibbs’ house, bags of groceries in his arms, spending an afternoon preparing a feast for them both while Gibbs, beer in hand, watches him move around his kitchen, Gibbs snagging a bite from whatever Tony is chopping every now and then.  
   
“Linda knows just when I need to vent, and will hear me out until I’m done talking, then she cuts through all the bullshit and gives me the advice I need.”  
   
Tony sees himself in the basement, pacing and rambling, words falling from his lips a mile a minute, Gibbs quietly working, letting him go on and on, until a soft “DiNozzo!” shuts him up and Gibbs tells him just what he needs to hear in only a few words.  
   
“But then, we know each other so well that we can also be quiet together for an entire evening, just knowing the other is there, not needing to talk all the time, in comfortable silence.”  
   
Tony recalls evenings spent on his couch, game on with the volume turned down low, the only sounds the clink of freshly opened beer bottles. Or Sunday afternoons at Gibbs’ place, sitting in the afternoon sun on the back porch, eyes closed and dozing for a few hours before turning on the grill for burgers shared in silence.  
   
“And of course, there’s nothing better than being able to hold her in my arms at night, warm and comfortable, just feeling her near. She settles me.”  
   
Ah. Tony can see that too with Gibbs, but only in his mind’s eye. He can picture it with perfect clarity, having done so many times before, but it’s always been just his imagination no matter how vivid the images are. He’s never been held by Gibbs, never spent the night with him, no matter how much he’s wanted to. They just didn’t go there.  
   
*****  
   
“Tony?”  
   
The soft question brought him back to the basement, and he focused his eyes on Gibbs.  
   
“You okay, Tony? Thought you said lunch was good.”  
   
“It was.”  
   
“Then why the sad look?”  
   
“No reason.”  
   
Tony smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Gibbs stared at him intently for a few moments, then put down his tools and reached one hand up to cup the back of Tony’s head, his thumb brushing softly over Tony’s hair. Tony almost gasped at the unusual gesture, a display of affection almost, but managed to keep his reaction under control. But he couldn’t hide the tiny widening of his eyes when Gibbs spoke again.  
   
“Bullshit. What’s going on, Tony?”  
   
Tony’s breathing hitched for a moment, and he blinked furiously a few times, his mind racing. As he looked at Gibbs he wondered to himself whether he could do this, and whether he should do this. It could ruin everything, but on the other hand, it might just make everything better. And he knew that if he didn’t do this now, he never would. He sighed deeply and stared down at his hands, not able to look at Gibbs while he did this. He stumbled over his words a few times, but managed to get it all out eventually.  
   
“Senior gave a lot of examples during lunch of why he and my new stepmom are so perfect together. And with every example he gave, I thought: I have that, I know what that’s like, I do that. With you. You take care of me, I take care of you. We spend time together in the ways Dad described. Little touches of affection he mentioned between Linda and himself, I do those things with you, and you do them right back. And the only thing that they do that we don’t is sleep together. But I want to, I’ve wanted to for so long, but you never…”  
   
Tony didn’t get any further with his explanation, because at that point Gibbs interrupted him almost sharply.  
   
“Tony!”  
   
Without looking up, Tony nodded in understanding.  
   
“Right, Boss. Sorry, Boss. Not what you want to hear. I’ll never…”  
   
“Tony.”  
   
The interruption was softer this time, and Tony took a deep breath, not knowing what to do. At last Gibbs’ fingers raised Tony’s chin to force the younger man to look up at him, and when he finally did, Gibbs stared at him intently, willing Tony to understand. Tony searched Gibbs’ eyes, until ever so slowly his expression turned to one of hope and wonder.  
   
“Really?”  
   
“You clever boy, Tony.”  
   
Tony’s grin started small, but grew wider and wider as he continued to stare at Gibbs. Suddenly not insecure anymore, Tony laughed out loud for a moment, then put one hand on the back of Gibbs’ neck and pulled the older man to him, sliding their lips against each other. Opening his mouth a little, he started nibbling at Gibbs’ lower lip until Gibbs opened up as well, and Tony slid his tongue into Gibbs’ mouth to taste and explore him. Gibbs let Tony dictate the kiss, but placed his hands on Tony’s hips and pulled their bodies together, then slid one hand up Tony’s back to pull him into an embrace. They stayed locked together for long minutes before finally pulling apart to breathe.  
   
“Does this mean you want to marry me, Gibbs?”  
   
The head slap hit in expected fashion, but Gibbs soothed it immediately with another kiss.  
   
 


End file.
